Technological computation of frontal modes in adsorption separation of multicomponent mixtures

Abstract

This paper reports a technological method for computation of frontal modes in adsorption separation of multicomponent mixtures based on the use of simple formulae. Formulae for computation of the principal parameters of the adsorption processes in separation of mixtures have been obtained with consideration of all major qualitative features peculiar to interphase mass exchange inside porous grains and in the intergranular space of the porous medium on the whole: (i) the essential reciprocal influence of the mixture components due to the nonlinear nature of the isotherms, (ii) the essential dependence of the diffusion and interdiffusion coefficients on the concentrations of the mixture components, and (iii) the influence of interdiffusion on mass exchange inside the porous grains of the adsorbent. The method has been illustrated with an example of computation of the frontal modes in adsorption separation of a two-component methanol—benzene mixture. The proposed technique has been shown to be advisable in computing frontal modes in adsorption separation of multicomponent mixtures.